In the sociopolitics of language, sometimes yesterday’s solution is tomorrow’s problem. This volume examines the evolving nature of language acquisition planning through a collection of papers that consider how decisions about language learning and teaching are mediated by a confluence of psychological, ideological, and historical forces. The first two parts of the volume feature empirical studies of formal and informal education across the lifespan and around the globe. Case studies map the agents, resources, and attitudes needed for creating moments and spaces for language learning that may, at times, collide with wider beliefs and policies that privilege some languages over others. The third part of the volume is devoted to conceptual contributions that take up theoretical issues related to epistemological and conceptual challenges for language acquisition planning. These contributions reflect on the full spectrum of social and cognitive factors that intersect with the planning of language teaching and learning including ethnic and racial power relations, historically situated political systems, language ideologies, community language socialization, relationships among stakeholders in communities and schools, interpersonal interaction, and intrapersonal development. In all, the volume demonstrates the multifaceted and socially situated nature of language acquisition planning.

This book describes the ways in which politicians, church leaders, generals, leaders of national movements and others try to influence our use of language. Professor Cooper argues that language planning is never attempted for its own sake. Rather it is carried out for the attainment of nonlinguistic ends such as national integration, political control, economic development, the pacification of minority groups, and mass mobilization. Many examples are discussed, including the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, feminist campaigns to eliminate sexist bias in language, adult literacy campaigns, the plain language movement, efforts to distinguish American from British spelling, the American bilingual education movement, the creation of writing systems for unwritten languages, and campaigns to rid languages of foreign terms. Language Planning and Social Change is the first book to define the field of language planning and relate it to other aspects of social planning and to social change. The book is accessible and presupposes no special background in linguistics, sociology or political science. It will appeal to applied linguists and to those sociologists, economists and political scientists with an interest in language.

Language problems potentially exist at all levels of human activity, including he local contaxts of communities & institutions. This volume explores the ways in which language planning works as a local activity in a wide variety of contexts around the world & deals with a wide range of language planning issues.

The author concludes from these data that dynamic identity construction, followed by willingness to act in conformity with expectations, are key elements in the planned behaviour and reasoned action which all authorities take in relation to language."--BOOK JACKET.

An examination of how an individual's native language can affect their lifestyle. Topics covered range from maintenance of the mother-tongue and second language learning, to the ideology of language planning theory, to education and language rights.

This volume analyses the policymaking, expectations, implementation, progress, and outcomes of early language learning in various education policy contexts worldwide. The contributors to the volume are international researchers specialising in language policy and early language learning and their contributions aim to advance scholarship on early language learning policies and inform policymaking at the global level. The languages considered include learning English as a second language in primary schools in Japan, Mexico, Serbia, Argentina, and Tanzania; Spanish language education in the US and Australia; Arabic as a second language in Israel and Bangladesh; Chinese in South America and Oceania; and finally, early German teaching and learning in France and the UK.

This volume examines the sociocultural factors that influence language choices and uses in the multilingual country of Luxembourg. Patterns of language use within and across communities are viewed in terms of interrelationships among language policy intent, implementation, and experience. The study considers the ways in which the language and social experiences within low socioeconomic communities differ from school expectations and how these differences affect achievement of both individual and government goals. A history of past language policies and practices sets the background for recent policy formation and current language uses and values. An investigation of the roles of reading, writing and speaking within school settings illustrates policy implementation and individual usage. The ways in which policy is experienced is described in terms of the number and extent of language functions within communities. The nature of language experience is reflected in ethnographic descriptions of the roles language and literacy abilities play in social life. These descriptions are presented in terms of patterns of language use across socioeconomic groups and through composite case studies of three families representing upper, middle and lower class backgrounds. Community and school language behaviors are then compared across socioeconomic groups through an analysis of the degree of congruence between reading, writing, and speaking functions outside of the school and the in-school norms and methods of language instruction. The study further explores the practical and theoretical implications of the relationships among policy intent, implementation, and experience in the context of socioeconomic transitions in modern multilingual nations.

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar I), language: English, abstract: Language Planning and Language Policy (LPLP) is an established process to manage and regulate the relationships and functions of languages within one national territory and saving endangered languages that becomes more and more important in a globalized community. Due to economic developments, the migration that goes along with, cultural exchange and other recent developments, indigenous languages are more endangered than ever before. According to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations Economic and Social Council [...] estimates suggest that more than half of the world’s languages will become extinct by 2100 [...]. At present, 96 per cent of the world’s approximately 6,700 languages are spoken by only 3 per cent of the world’s population (Source: United Nations 2016) Saving indigenous languages and managing and regulating their function within society is of utmost importance, since indigenous languages [...] are not only methods of communication but also extensive and complex systems of knowledge that have developed over millenniums. They are central to the identity of indigenous peoples, the preservation of their cultures, worldviews and visions and an expression of self-determination. Indigenous languages are critical markers of the cultural health of indigenous peoples. When indigenous languages are under threat, so too are indigenous peoples themselves (United Nations 2016) LPLP is one of the possible solutions to this problem. However, although LPLP is an established process it does pose certain problems in its implementation and may lead to cultural segregation. There are examples of successful implementations of LPLP, such as Canada’s handling of the language problems concerning the use of French in Quebec. There, facilitating the framework for the coexistence of both French and English in Canada has helped to mitigate the language problems. In a first step the concepts of Language Policy and Language Planning will be defined in order to understand its implications and the reasons and goals whichthey aim to achieve. Then a look at the different branches of LPLP will be taken before the different methods of implementation will be presented and the connected challenges and criticism before we can reach a conclusion on the viability of LPLP as a tool for tackling language problems and what has to be considered in a possible implementation scenario by the example of Catalonia.

In foreign language education, decisions must be taken on what languages to teach, who will teach them, in which schools (i.e. all, only urban, only rural), in which grades, the number of hours a week, and the cost involved. This book explores the answers to these questions across a number of Asian polities. It illustrates why some of the efforts undertaken are successful and why some are not, why – despite significant investments of time and resources – some students do not seem to acquire the languages being taught, and why some teachers responsible for instruction in the designated foreign languages have problems achieving fluency in the designated language or have other language teaching difficulties. It suggests some strategies various polities might attempt to achieve their stated language learning objectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of Current Issues in Language Planning.

This revised second edition is a comprehensive overview of why we speak the languages that we do. It covers language learning imposed by political and economic agendas as well as language choices entered into willingly for reasons of social mobility, economic advantage and group identity.